This deviation is for the fantasy story contest at This is an open competition and I would appreciate your vote!

The Grim Brothers once wrote a tale of six brothers who were turned into swans by their evil (are there any other kind?) step-mother, and their sister had to live without speaking as she wove six magical shirts for them to wear to break the spell. In 1994, Dominique Tomas wrote a sci-fi version of this story with seven brothers and the sister had to gather enough nettles to change them, speaking not a single word as she completed her task. This is my illustration that combines the two stories. The sister waits for her brothers to come to her during the quarter of an hour each evening when they can shed their swan feathers to become human again.

Stock: Female
Background: and the National Parks Service [link]
Swans from the National Parks Service

Lovely piece! I am particularly moved by the lavender, green and other color choices that work so well together. Also, the model chosen fit the "feel" of the time and story to my mind. This piece definitely captured the quality of old time illustration, which is what you were shooting for. I like the story you chose, it's not as well known thus not as overexposed as some tales tend to be. BRAVA! Nicely done.

Very nice work! Love the watercolor feel achieved with the use of subdued colors and texture. I also enjoyed very much the detail of the arm of the swan close to the girl. Good to see your personal version on this wonderful tale.

Thank you so much for the complements! I worked very hard on this deviation. I want all of my manips to look like "art", but this one I am very proud of (would you believe that there are only two stock swans in the water and the other two are manipulated, let alone what it took to get all the swans the same coloration?)

Thank you! That is really very kind of you to say so. One of the things I also love to do is write comical spoofs of famous tales and stories. I think I'll start posting some of them as well. I have one for The Christmas Carol that I can create an illustration for and upload for Christmas!

Oh, thank you! You know that's the look I was going for, but to actually have you see it let's me know I was successful. And that makes me very happy. Now come over here and give me some lovin'! :cuddling:

Very pretty I especially like the texture. I also like the subdued colors - they work well for the melancholic feel of the story. This is one of my favorite fairy tales Thank you so much for using my stock!

Thank you for commenting on the feel of the image through the colors, that was what I was trying to convey for this illustration. I'm glad I chose to use you in one of your favorite fairy tales. I almost given up on participating in the contest until I was visiting your stock account for the first time. When I saw you sitting there in that gold dress looking off in the distance, I KNEW I had finally found my "swan sister"!